The Young Protectors: Engaging The Enemy Chapter One—Page 16

I guess it’s either a date with The Annihilator or a lifetime of anonymous back-alley sex. If only someone had taken the time to explain that to me when I was a teen…

We have new Fan Art by Kaori entitled “Coercion” featuring Kyle and The Annihilator. Coincidence or fate? You be the judge! Do check it out.

Oh, and

***THIS IS A BONUS PAGE!***

The second bonus page in two weeks! WOOT! PAR-TAY!

And we are already at $82 towards the next bonus page.

Special thanks go out to long-time supporters James N., Tony C., Katherine L. & Achim G. (all four making their second generous donations to The Young Protectors!) & Alba C. (who makes their fourth generous donation to The Young Protectors!) and a warm welcome and grateful bow go out to new supporters Shelby T., Harlan L., Marc K., Julia P. & Elizabeth S. for their generous donations over the last few days!

Big hugs go out to new friend of The Young Protectors (and a person who totally made my day with their kind words at YaoiCon), Reece N. for their super generous $25 donation!

And super-hero strength hugs go out to long-time The Young Protectors super-friends Safiya M. & Adriane L. for their amazingly generous $50 donations! This also makes the fourth amazingly generous donations from both of them (and Safiya’s donation put us over the top for this page!) Thank you so much Safiya & Adriane! I am very grateful to you both!

I am very grateful to all of you for your generous support. Two bonus pages in a row! Wow! It’s really exciting for me and the artists to share these bonus pages with you and a huge morale boost for all of us to have it happen two weeks in a row. Thank you!

So… new page up this Saturday. What do you think the odds are that we are going to find out The Annihilator’s name? 🙂

If you particularly enjoy any of these pages and use Facebook, please click the Like button on that page. It’s useful to know what’s working and it helps me get the word out!

Thank you for the kind words, Dawnie! I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know you are enjoying the dialogue. 🙂

And I’ve actually written a short post for writers who want to start a webcomic. It has a bunch of technical details in it, but the very last section has some more general advice. And I just gave a presentation about this at YaoiCon so I might write another post about this about finding and working with artists, etc.

It’s not a problem~ I’m normally a stalker/lurker because I’m shy to start with (then when I know someone I don’t shut up lol) so the fact that your comic has me coming out of my shell means a lot. xD Believe it or not haha. ^///^; Er, point I was trying to make (I side track a lot lol) was you’re welcome. xD

And thank you for the link! I read it over and it’s extreamly helpful! I never knew where to begin with doing something like this, so thanks again~ <3

So, Kyle finally gets around to asking Anni’s real name. Throw in the comment about ‘weren’t you the one who told me not to trust your bargains’ and I’m beginning to think that he’s not totally overwhelmed-by-it-all-to-the-point-of-clueless-ness after all.

And I’ll dare to hope that the double bonus pages means we’ve reached a point (kind a like ‘Artifice’ did about half way through its run) where bonus pages turn up more often then not. Even if the higher costs involved because of two artists rather than one means that the financing might be a case of comparing apples with walnuts.

Omg, Alex your dialogue keeps getting better! I’ve read this at least 5 times before tearing myself away to comment. Wtg Kyle, for not getting completely swept off your feet by those lovely blue eyes and a very well tailored tux! So what is Foxy’s real name? *discreetly wipes away drool*

Come on Anni Kyle isn’t the only one who wants to know your name! And besides a gentleman always gives his name before asking the name of another, especially the name of his potential date. I wonder if Kyle speaks Chinese? If he doesn’t then he will be at the complete mercy of Anni in Hong Kong, should he go…which he should!

I wonder if Anni will use the “Well, my friends call me ****” line. Brilliant update and I can’t wait for Saturday!

Yukiness

Glad to see someone finally let his sarcasm flag fly. Kyle’s snarkiness is a good sign. It shows that he is gaining comfort from Anni’s prescence. However, I would be floored if Anni gave KittyKat his real name. He is asking for a lot here.

Yay! A bonus page! You go Kyle, call him on his bargaining strategies! I doubt it will get you his real name though. Anni will probably say something about keeping the ‘mystery’ in the romance and then whisk Kyle away to their exotic date–which will be fine by me. 😀

What I’m really curious about is Anni’s real motives behind his pursuit of Kyle. Just what is he after so badly that he would resort to enlisting the help of others such as PP? He strikes me as the sort of villain who prefers to work alone. And while Kyle is quite comely in his naive, kittenish way, I wouldn’t think Anni would be so smitten that all this would (just) be about romance.

I never thought I would say this about a BL/yaoi comic EVER, but I am more interested in finding out about Anni’s nefarious plan than anything else. I have really grown to like his character, and I am kind of wanting to know if I will be sucker-punched when his true motivations are revealed. I know this is going to be quite the journey for the both of them, and I am all in to see where it takes them, and not just romantically.

But if they can get to third base at least a couple of times along the way–you know, to advance the plot– that would be cool too. ;-P

I find myself in agreement with your suspicions. Maybe, being a Slytherin myself, I’m all too willing to ascribe layers of motivation to others, bit it would be just like Anni to pull off the triple-cross and not have any at all other than taking advantage of the situation. Perhaps opportunistic rather than strategic.

Nah. That man might as well have NEFARIOUS PLOT printed on his underpants.

Love Kyle’s expression in panel 5, something different from his usual clueless/innocent/scandalised look. There’s hope for him yet! And I have to agree with Dee Dee…suddenly the Platinum Preistess is the invisible 3rd wheel!

I love the Anni ascribes to the “If you don’t want to play, it’s no fun for me” mentality. It still makes him feel devious, but respectful. I love it!

I love Anni’s expression in panel too, it just screams “Oops, he has a point, better say something smooth.” At which point he says something smooth.

Oh I am so stoked for Saturday now! I can’t wait to see what happens next. For the most part I am totally impressed with Kyle’s clear headed thinking and caution regarding this date, but there is a good chunk of my brain that is screaming; “Stop asking questions, say yes, and enjoy the most AMAZING night ever!”

streetwalkersan

Oh, Kyle. So cute.

His actual words in that second panel might be all cynical and distrustful but what those lips are trying to say is “KISS ME” all puckered up like that.<3

Joy Clemens

Their so cute together, he’s tying to con him onto the dark side… Go for it, the bad guys are better!

I think our chances of finding out A’s real name this week are not good. Not good at all. After all, what kind of super villain gives it up on the first date?? (“It”, of course, being one’s secret identity.) Someday, though. Someday.

Awww. Anni used the word ‘romance’. Is that even in the vocab of a supervillain? I am curious as to what past deeds have made the Annihilator a ‘supervillain’ and someone to be feared.

Karolyn Ellis

I missed a BLEEP-TON since I’ve been away!

When I first began to read this scene, I was screaming: “NOOOOOO!! He’s only trying to corrupt you!! Find some nice boy in a bar or something, but don’t date a supervillain!” And then I head the words, “Take you out to a nice restaurant…” Then I began to salivate, my stomach began to growl, and I began to cheer: “GO! GO! GO! GO!”

But then again, I’m a sucker for free food. >.> Not gonna lie.

Oh, and the Platinum Priestess…thank you for her. 🙂 Soooo pretty!

Captain_LeBubbles

“Oh, just call me Anni, everyone does.”

Bad_Guy_Lover

I hope his name really is Anni! Big mister bad ass “My name’s Anni…. i dare you to laugh!”

His name actually is The Annihilator. His parents were very forward-thinking like that. 🙂

You guys make me laugh so hard with this comic; so much so that I even signed in on my cell phone to read the updates and comment on how fantastic you three are. 🙂 (My internet may be down, but I still have 3G!)

Well, I always love hearing when I give folks a laugh. Thank you for letting me know. I’m glad you’re enjoying our work! (Even if it has to be on the small screen of a cell phone. I know how that can be. Before I got my iPad, when I traveled that was my only way of keeping on top of stuff on the road. 🙂 )

There is the whole issue of this dude being a Supervillain, and Red Hot being, you know, a Superhero. how awkward would it be for these dudes to meet in battle? Red Hot is 17 years old, he wouldn’t know what to do. And The Supervillain dude probably wouldn’t even bat an eyelash.

SolrSurfr3

Kyle, there’s a reason they’re called SECRET identities. Have you told him YOUR name yet?

Kyra Baert

Hello~ I’m new to this comic and I like it so far.

But can I just point out (even if it’s not on the correct page), that Spooks doesn’t look Chinese… I’m sorry. I figured he was with the whole Chinese new year dragon bit, and then now with the Chinese food it’s kinda a blunt indicator. But when he first conjured up the dragon I was confused and studied him and… I’m sorry he doesn’t look Chinese to me.

But maybe he’s just half-and-half ! I’ll settle for that~

Either way, sorry for the short rant ^^ I really like the story so far, keep up the good work !

Emiko

I love how Kyle’s character bridges that awkward gap between manliness and still being a teenage boy. Sometimes you look at him and he’s like a little kid, all cute and innocent, and sometimes those muscles are just like umph. That’s a man.